


find me warm, when the cold would set in

by unnohrian (cuddlebros)



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Christmas Shopping, F/F, Fluff, Food, Kind of though I don't think Christmas exactly exists here, Love, Shopping, Winter, Winter Markets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-01-30 16:48:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21431503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlebros/pseuds/unnohrian
Summary: Winter has descended upon Nohr, and you and your girlfriend are determined to make the most of it. You explore the capital's winter market, enjoying all it has to offer, and enjoying each other's company as you do.
Relationships: My Unit | Kamui | Corrin/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	find me warm, when the cold would set in

**Author's Note:**

> The use of [Y/N] returns, because I've kind of missed it.

Camilla had been loathe to let her little sister leave the castle, but with the promise that Gunter would be chaperoning the two of you, she relented. You were sure your beloved would have more people following her than just him, but as long as you could at least  _ pretend _ to be alone together, you were content.

The day comes for your adventure outside, and it’s  _ freezing _ . You’d had to spend quite a while wrapping yourself up to battle the elements, but with the sound of the wind whipping wildly outside your window, you reckon it will be worth it. You’re just about ready to depart, and it seems you’re right on time—a knock on the door of your room tells you that Corrin is, too. The sight that greets when you open the door has you has you stifling a laugh behind bitten lips.

She’s truly something to behold. Your amusement makes her rush to explain how she’s been dressed: three pairs of thick stockings, a suit of long johns, an underdress, a dense woollen dress, two overcoats, a pair of gloves and woollen mittens. She was almost unrecognisable under all the fabric. “Do you think it will be enough?” she asks. 

“Almost.” You grin at her. “Though I have an early present for you that I think will make sure you’re absolutely perfect.”

It takes a moment of digging in your dresser, but you soon feel the soft cashmere of your gift underneath your everyday clothes. You pull it out carefully, taking a moment to admire the significance of it. It was, of course, a present for your beloved, but it was also something that had signified a shift in relations with her sister. 

When you had approached Camilla earlier in the year, sheepishly asking for her help with a project for Corrin, the princess held little but veiled contempt for you. In her eyes, you were stealing her little sister, and that was inexcusable—but she couldn’t turn down an offer to help make something for the one she loved so much. So, begrudgingly, she had taught you to knit, helping you with increasingly intricate patterns until you’d come to the final project: a soft, warm, wintery scarf for Corrin. By the time you had cemented the pattern you were going to use, Camilla had warmed to you considerably, even sparing you some of the same soft glances she usually saved for Corrin—though you wouldn’t let her know you’d caught them.

You weren’t sure what the better present would be: the beautiful, warm scarf you’d created, or the first tentative steps towards friendship you’d made with Camilla. Whichever she loved better, you were happy to be able to give her _ something _ .

For now, though, you offer her the tangible thing. She keeps her soft gaze on you as you fuss over her, insisting on wrapping it around her yourself. She only attempts to lean over to kiss you when you’re done.

“Thank you, sweetie… It’s so soft! It’ll definitely keep me warm! Where did you buy it?”

“I made it! Well, Camilla and I worked hard to make it together. I’m sure she’ll be happy to know you like it.”

A new voice comes from your doorway, catching both you and Corrin off-guard. “She is,” Camilla says, amusement lacing her voice. “Though she won’t take so much credit. Your sweetheart here came up with the design, chose the materials, and did the work—I just made sure she remembered how to pick up dropped stitches.”

“Cam! You’re back early!” Corrin hobbles as quickly as she can to embrace her sister, a hug that Camilla is only too happy to receive.

“I came to ensure you would be adequately dressed, though I see now I needn’t have worried. You dressed her like this, [Y/N]?”

“Oh, no—this is Flora and Felicia’s work. [Y/N] would probably have wrapped me in a hoarde of blankets and carried me around town,” Corrin responds. You’re all aware that she’s only partially joking.

“And I’d be glad to do it.”

“Hm. Well, you look like you’ll be warm enough. I also came to give you my purse. You’ll need money for the little treats you’ll find in the markets, I’m sure.”

“Oh… yes, thank you!”

“You spend what you want, okay? That purse is yours for the night.” From further down the hallway, Selena can be heard calling out for her liege, who has almost certainly abandoned one of her duties to check on her little sister. “I’d better be going, and you should too. I want you back before the eighth hour, understood?”

You both nod, and she smiles.

“Be safe, the pair of you.”

With that, she turns and leaves, leaving the two of you alone again. Corrin barely checks the contents of the purse before she’s challenging you to a race to the stables—you’re sure you have the advantage, dressed lighter than her, but her excitement gives her extra energy.

In the end, it’s a tie.

* * *

It takes less than an hour to reach the markets of the Nohrian capital. You leave the royal horses in a stable out of view, not wanting to bring any undue attention to yourselves. This was a date between two lovers, not some royal outing, and both of you wished to keep it that way. With Corrin bundled so deeply beneath her clothes, you don’t foresee it being an issue.

With a nod to Gunter, who had agreed on the ride to stay a decent distance behind you as you wandered, Corrin takes your hand and you walk to the beginning of the market. It’s immediately clear that this is the place to be: it’s not even mid-afternoon yet, but the stalls are already thick with a gathering of people. Stacks of steam bloom from pots and make-shift ovens, stall owners chat away to potential customers while their helping hands stir and fold and serve trays of food. The smell of roasting nuts has already made its way up to you, answered by twin rumbles from both you and your sweethearts’ stomachs.

Corrin takes your hand in hers and squeezes it. You know how much it means for her to be able to see her people in person, and that it settles her heart to see them happy. 

“What is that smell? It’s divine…”

“Roasting chestnuts! They’re a real crowd puller, because they smell so good. Have you never had them before?”

“No.” A forlorn expression falls on her face. “No, we have nothing like that in the castle. Father insists we’re only fed functional food: game and root vegetables tend to be our lot during winter. When we have treats, they’re often chocolates or hard sugar sweets—but I usually give mine to Elise. I’ve never seen most of these foods before.”

“Well… it’ll be an honour to introduce you to some of my favourites! Come, we’ll start with those nuts.”

The stall is one of the more crowded ones, likely due as much to the fact it’s so close to the outskirts of the market as the enticing smell it emits. The man at the hot plate is working furiously to make sure the caramel coating on the outside of the nuts doesn’t burn, and the server up front looks just as frazzled as she tries to juggle orders—but she’s managing it. You order for the pair of you, a little cup of darkly glazed nuts in exchange for a single piece of silver.

Corrin pulls you out of the fray, into a small little alcove between the backs of two stalls, where the world is muted and calm, at least comparatively. The nuts are still steaming when the two of you pick one up with your fingers, and you watch intently as Corrin tries something new.

She pulls a face. 

“Not quite your thing?”

“No, it’s just… it’s not what I was expecting?” Her expression changes again, and you laugh a little. “It’s… growing on me. Sweet and savoury and crunchy… it’s not really something I’ve had before. But I do like it!”

“Do you want to keep the rest of the cup?”

“No, no! I wanna share.” She proves it by picking one up and pushing it to your lips. “Open up.”

“‘m not a baby,” you mumble, but you let her feed it to you nonetheless. You get your own back, giving the little bit of her finger that makes it into your mouth a nip. “Thanks, though, honey.”

“You’re welcome. Should we keep walking while we eat?”

“Lead the way—what catches your eye?”

She threads her hand through the crook of your elbow, and you feel like proper nobles as she leads you around. You chatter absently as you walk around, stopping at stalls here and there that interest her. You wash down your roast nuts with a small cup of mulled pomegranate juice, try some chewy cookies dotted with the jewels of winter berries, and take little drinks from your water flasks when you need them.

Nothing excites her quite like the chestnuts until she sees a stall where an older woman is dropping tiny pastries into boiling oil, and she drags you towards it with wide eyes.

“What are those?”

“Fried pies, I’d assume—probably fruit, from the smell of it. You want to try one?”

She’s cute and earnest as she nods at you, and you’re only too happy to order one for her. All of these sweet things have you feeling a little nauseous, so you hand it straight to her. Corrin admires the fried dough for a moment, the perfect little pleats and the crispy brown exterior, and gets ready to bite into it.

“No, you’ve got to wait—”

You’re too late to warn her. She bites down, and her eyes immediately widen. You have to stifle your giggles as she leaves her mouth agog in a desperate attempt to cool it down.

“I was going to warn you—the fruit inside is practically molten when you first get it… you’re supposed to let it cool down a little before digging in.”

She glares at you, probably cursing your giggles as much she’s cursing her own excitement.

“My poor darling… is your mouth all burnt?” She nods, and having finally swallowed her mouthful, she hisses at the feeling. “Can I try and kiss it better?”

She lets you kiss her, even lets you deepen it, but she bites your tongue a little for payback.

“Mmh… you’re awful, you know, for not warning me earlier.”

“My sincerest apologies, princess,” you grin, “but I  _ did _ try. Come, why don’t we explore the craft stalls while the pie cools?”

Corrin presses a quick peck to your cheek before grabbing your hand with her free one, and nodding towards fray. “Lead the way!”

It starts snowing as the pair of you work through the crowded food stalls to the slightly less crowded craft stalls. You don’t see it, but as you pull her through a narrow gap between people, Corrin’s eyes glow with love. You look magical with flecks of snow drifting around you, little puffs of breath spreading out around you, like some kind of guiding spirit. With your hand in hers, no matter how far away Gunter is, she knows she’s safe.

The first craft stall to catch her eye is one selling bright accessories—pastel bows made from shiny ribbons, headbands wrapped in darker ribbons and speckled with jewels, practical scarves for the head. She urges you in that direction, and you can tell immediately who she’s thinking of. The woman manning the stall is only too happy to bag up a matching pair of pale pink clip-in bows, the perfect colour for Elise.

Just as quickly as you’d found that stall, another just behind it stands out. It’s full of hand-bound books, just waiting to be written in.

“Which one do you think Xander would like best, [Y/N]?” The two books she gestures to are thick, but completely different in every other way. One is bound in leather, almost completely plain except for the two intricately decorated metal buckles. The other seems to be bound with with some sort of heavy duty jute covering a wooden base, little gold inlays painting swirling, curling patterns through the stormy dark blue of the fabric. They’re both beautiful.

“It would be a shame to leave either of them here,” you muse, not missing how the sleepy stall-holder seems to perk up at your words. “I think he’d appreciate the leather one more, but the blue one looks so stunning…”

“You’re right… I just don’t study enough to justify buying it for myself.” She bites the corner of her lip in the way that always makes you want to kiss her senseless, but you manage to restrain yourself. “Perhaps Leo would like it?”

“I think he’d love it!”

You buy them both, leaving only one sibling without a gift. It seems strange to use Camilla’s own money to purchase a gift for her, but neither of you had any other funds. 

When you point out a stall that sells large, unrefined chunks of crystal, Corrin’s eyes soften. “A good idea.”

The crystals range from little pebble-sized pieces to halves of entire geodes, but the perfect one for Camilla seems to be one in the middle, around the size of your hand. Where its edges have been left sharp, it reflects the waning sunlight from deep inside, warming the dark purple into something softer.

“Maybe it can be a kind of promise? That one day you’ll make it to that cave together, see the real thing.”

“It’s… yeah. It’s great. She’ll love it.”

Corrin asks to pay for it—you hand over the purse with no argument. With the money exchanged, you point out the darkening sky, and suggest you think of returning soon.

She purchases some sweet treats for her retainers, and then you head back to your steeds. The light dusting of snow has already become a reasonable carpet beneath your feet. A mischievous idea grabs you, and when her back turns, you scoop up some of the fluffy snow from the ground and form it into a ball. Aim isn’t your strongest suit, but she isn’t too far away, so when you chuck it at her neck you just about hit her.

Corrin squeals, trying her best to shuffle so that nothing can melt down her back, but it doesn’t seem to work. With you almost in tears from laughter, her eyes quickly narrow on the culprit. “What—oh, _ you _ …”

She can’t move too quickly, but that gives her time to really get her eye in. When you stand up, wiping tears of laughter from your eyes, you almost immediately get your comeuppance in the form of a snowball to the face.

“Yowch!” You shake the ice from your face, still laughing. “Target practice really seems to working for you, that got me dead on.”

“My aim is definitely approving,” she agrees, laughing a little at the reddening skin of your face. “Now get on your horse so we can get home before the squall comes.”

The ride home is harder than the one out, but you make it with little trouble. When you finally return, little gifts hidden in your saddlebags and larger treats secreted away in Gunter’s, Jakob is already waiting for you. He barely lets the pair of you dismount before he has Corrin sent up to change from her snow-covered clothes, and you take the distraction as an opportunity to grab your purchases before his attention turns towards you.

“Miss, I really must insist you also change as soon as possible! Let me take your bags—”

“I can manage a few bags, Jakob, but thank you for the offer.”

He grunts in displeasure but relents when you show no intention of letting him help. “Very well. But when you have changed, my mistress requests that you join her in her drawing room—both of you have house robes warming next to the fire there.”

“Thank you, Jakob.” You give the butler a smile and a small bow, which he returns. “You’re diligent as ever. I won’t keep you from Corrin any longer.”

“Thank you, miss. I’ll allow you to make your way to your room.”

It takes a while to disrobe from your outdoor clothes and find places to secret away the presents Corrin had bought (you had agreed they would be easier to hide until the solstice if they were in your room) but when you’re done, you feel the chill of the night setting in. The stones of the castle seem to absorb the cold from every draft, letting it seep out and chilling the air. You shiver as you pull on some indoor clothes, and hurry to Corrin’s drawing room.

Your darling is already sitting on the rug before the fire. There are so many places to sit—a large armchair, a love-seat and a full sized couch, and that’s only the seats facing the fire—but Corrin has still chosen the floor. You enter as quietly as you can, but she still hears you coming, turning to smile at you as you walk to her, and patting the space beside her.

“Come, warm your feet.”

“Only if you’ll warm my side.”

The pair of you lean on each other there in quiet contemplation, playing with each others fingers as you do. It’s just warm enough for you to feel no need to move—not until a voice from earlier disturbs you.

“I’m sure Jakob told you that your housecoats were in here.”

“He did,” Corrin replies dreamily, “we were just… enjoying the fire.”

“On the floor? I need the two of you to be on a proper seat, please—no princess sits on the ground like that.”

She takes the armchair, watching carefully as you both shuck on the warm woolen coats, and as you follow each other to the couch.

“I trust you had fun?”

Corrin lights up, immediately delving into descriptions of everything she’d seen and tasted. Elise slips into the room in the middle of her tale, immediately snuggling up between you and your girlfriend. Camilla covers the three of you in a fluffy blanket when she hears Elise’s soft sleepy noises. When Corrin finishes her tale, the room falls quiet other than the crackling of the fireplace. Camilla asks if you’d like her to read from the book she’d brought with her, and Corrin replies a quiet yes. 

While Camilla goes to retrieve it, Corrin looks at you. “I love you,” she whispers over Elise’s sleeping head.

You whisper back, squeezing her hand. “I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was requested! "could i tempt you to write some (nohrian) f!corrin/reader fluff or drabble with a wintery (or christmasy) theme? id leave the specifics up to you but id just love to read something comfy with corrin involved, haha"
> 
> I took this request and kind of ran with my favourite parts of winter--I love, love, love winter markets. There's one by the river that we go to sometimes and just... the smells and sights and joy make it feel like the world can still be good, sometimes, and it always looks super romantic. This is meant to be Corrin's non-noble lover introducing her to some of the winter traditions she loves.
> 
> Some of this fic I love, some parts of it make me feel like I've made some bad technical choices, and this fic will be liable to editing because of it.
> 
> As always, comments, critiques and anything else are welcome here or at cuddlebros.tumblr.com! Requests and commissions are still open for a little while longer. You can also find a link to my ko-fi there, where I currently have a goal for being able to get Fire Emblem 3 Houses, so I can write for that, too! (No obligation to donate, just letting you know!)


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